Wagering Suspended on Big Drama in KDFW

The colt suffered an injury earlier this year that has taken him out of the Derby.

Trainer David Fawkes reported that a minor injury suffered earlier in the year has hampered Big Drama’s training to the point that he is now off the Kentucky Derby Trail. Big Drama suffered a bone bruise in a stall mishap that required minor surgery, but the healing process took several weeks. Fawkes said there is not enough time to get his colt ready for his best effort in the May 2 Run for the Roses.

Big Drama was listed as a 30-1 risk in the morning line odds for KDFW Pool 2. He had closed at odds of 48-1 in February’s first of three 2009 KDFW pools. The year’s final pool is set for April 2-5.

Owned by Harold Queen, Big Drama, won the Delta Jackpot (gr. III) and swept the Florida Stallion Stakes series last year at Calder Race Course. Wagering on the colt has now been suspended for Pool 2 of Churchill Downs’ Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which opens its four-day run March 12.

The official rules of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager state that betting will be suspended on any wagering interest if it is definitely determined the horse will not compete in the Kentucky Derby. If that determination is made while the four-day wagering pool is underway, wagering is suspended immediately, but money already wagered on the horse remains in the pool. There are no scratches or refunds in the KDFW.

The defection of Big Drama leaves 23 betting interests in KDFW Pool 2, including a mutuel field (wagering interest #24) that includes all 3-year-olds other than the 22 individual horses that remain in the pool. Wagering on the March 12-15 pool, the first in the KDFW’s 11-year history to offer exacta betting, is scheduled to open at noon (all times EDT) March 12. Betting on the pool will conclude March 15 at 6 p.m. The company Kentucky Oaks Future Wager pool also opens at noon March 12, but will close at 6:30 p.m. Mach 15.